The recent outburst of
the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the reported plans by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to privatise the nation’s refineries is quite understandable.
The NLC who spoke through  its president, Abdulwaheed Omar, decried the move as unwarranted arguing that it is “scandalous that the same government who had always promised to use the gains from petroleum rice increase, which it has received over the years, to reactivate existing refineries and build additional ones can turn around to announce the privatization of the refineries.
The petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) had reacted in similar  manner when the planned sale of the refineries was made known few months ago by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke. She said the government would like to see major infrastructure facilities such as the refineries transferred from the hands of government to the private sector, adding, “government do not want to be in the business of running major infrastructure and we haven’t done a very good job at it over these years”.
Unsurprising, the minister’s pronouncement did not go down well with many people especially the oil workers’ unions which would rather want the refineries  fixed and made to perform optimally under government ownership.
These labour unions and some other analysts have also posited that the planned privatization is an attempt to hand over the nation’s refineries to cronies of the Federal government. Others are worried that the  “national assets” would be put into the hands of foreigners. They think it is not safe for government to hand over the refineries entirely into the hands of private investors considering the country’s  dependence oil for existence. Some other citizens are concerned about the privatization process. They are afraid that if enough period is not given within which the assets are expected to be sold, it will not allow for global best practices and transparency.
Be that as it may, I will totally align with those that believe it is high time we got rid of the four moribund refineries. As admitted by the Petroleum Minister, these refineries, two in Port Harcourt, one each in Kaduna and Warri have performed sub-optimally for almost two decades as state run entities. Billions of naira have been pumped into their Turn Around Maintenance (TAM), yet the desired results could not be gotten due to inefficiency, corruption and age.
As a result, Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer and the world’s ninth largest producer of crude oil shamefully relies on fuel imports to meet more than 70 per cent of its needs. These date owned plants operate at a fraction of their capacity cord. According to Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the country exchanges 60,000 barrels a day of crude product with Trafigura Beheer 3v and a similar amount with Societe  Ivoriene de Raffinage’s  (SIR) in Ivory Coast  and refineries in other countries.           It is interesting to note that while our refineries are almost dead, some of the foreign refineries which refine our crude oil like the SIR built in 1962 before the first refinery in Nigeria continue to function at more than 80 per cent of installed capacity. Reasons being that the government of Cote D’ Ivoire retains  a minority stake in the plant while renowned international oil companies hold the controlling interest.
It has also been established that all over the world government has never been a good business man. Government has a poor and pathetic history of managing anything and vital sector of the economy such as the refinery will be better in the hands of the private sector. The aviation and telecommunication sectors quickly come to mind as typical examples of how privatization can make a dead industry come to live.
Over the years, Nigeria has witnessed regular pump price increase causing untold hardship due to scarcity of petroleum product. Currently, though there is no official increase in the pump prise, the unexplained scarcity of petrol has forced motorists to buy the product for up to N150.00 per liter.
Presently, kerosene used by many families for cooking is out of reach for the poor. Many have resorted to the use of firewood and charcoal for cooking. If privatization will make petroleum products available and more affordable, why don’t we opt for that?
So, I think instead of NLC and oil workers threatening fire and brimstone if the refineries are privatized, they should dialogue with government on how best to go about the privatization process in the interest of the nation. They should concern themselves with the process through which the buyers will emerge. This is a period to put sentiments and personal interests aside and  seek ways to develop the economy of this country.
It is also advisable that the labour unions and other stakeholders are carried along if the privatization process must succeed. That is why one considers the recent federal government’s dialogue with the organized labour on the burning issue as a right step in the right direction.
Perhaps if government has been a bit more transparent in the  privatization exercises and also used the proceeds from such ventures judiciously, there would not have been any protest against the planned refineries sales. Keeping the people in the dark on government dealings most often leads to disaster.
It is also my opinion that drastic measures are taken to check pipeline vandalism if the privatization will yield positive result. Most important, as plans are being made to hand over the refineries to private investors, government should set up a regulatory body which will set rules to be followed by the investors. Our leaders, particularly the president require no reminding that they are constitutionally mandated to pursue sound and beneficial economic policy options at all times.
Therefore, the planned privation of refineries should be done in favour of the citizenry instead of a few privileged individuals.

 
Calista  Ezeaku